Now the reminder about how things work around here: I watch the show once, while drinking (though I only had one glass tonight, because I was driving) and I take really bad notes just to keep track of scene order, and then I recap the episode for you using my memory and making up all the quotes. As such, I'm gonna make minor mistakes and quote things wrong. If you correct me on every minor thing, I get super annoyed. If you correct me when I ASK or on major plot/character points, I'm grateful - so choose wisely!

Okay, LONG VERSION REACTION....

They actually got Metallica for the opener! Wow! Nothing Else Matters is a great song... though I think it's a little slow for their usual rock opening BUT, it also probably fit the mood really well, because it does slow us right down to the melancholy that is having everyone we know and love die horribly.

So, we start off with Jack asking for his father. Sam's like "I am not your father." Oh man... did he say it like that?! I don't think he did, but he totally should have, because that's what Cas keeps telling Claire, that'd be a nice call back. Maybe he did say it like that and I didn't put it together until I wrote it out. Anyway... the point is, Sam is trying to figure this shit out.

Meanwhile, Dean is outside being DEVASTATED because his best friend is lying dead with BEAUTIFUL WINGS, and ugh, it kills me that angels die so pretty, because that's just a twist of the knife in the heart. So, of course Dean's going to go straight from the shock part of grief right into the ANGER part of grief - and he decides who he wants to blame it on and it's the supernatural being in the house. So, he goes in to shoot the kid, and that goes poorly.

Jack uses SONIC VOICE and it is super effective. Hahaha... it was actually a pretty cool effect, I liked the sort of slowdown and then BAM into the wall, which knocks them both out. (Seriously, if this was real life, both boys would be SO BRAIN DAMAGED by now)

The opener title card is "Eye of Sauron"-ish, it's cool, from the glimpse I got of it.

Then we come back to what is a weird flashback of Mary taking on Lucifer, except that it suddenly changes to Mary burning and then morphing into Mary on the ceiling, and then we realize that it's Dean having a nightmare... which, yeah, not good. I'm wondering if there was a point to that though, because it seemed weirdly out of place to never be mentioned again. Maybe they were just trying to remind us that Mary was dead or something?

So, Sam and Dean run out of the house to find the kid. I loved the way Dean asked if Jack could teleport, or rather, how he followed up the question "Does he have wings?!" Like... man, I don't know what it is about the question that gets me, but something does. Maybe because in Supernatural you can't tell if someone has wings just by looking at them... or it's just that we haven't had a reference to wings lately? I have no idea. Maybe it's because I recently read Flight, a destiel fanfic that was quite good. (Fun fact: As long as fics are set post-S8, I don't mind destiel. So, I've been indulging a little.)

Anyway...

Jack is at a fast food place called Pirate Pete's, where we first meet the employees, and get a little bit of a feel for their personalities. Then Jack shows up naked, asking for his father, and so the teen workers call one of their moms... who is the Sheriff.

Meanwhile, Sam and Dean drive down the Sea to Sky highway, and it is beautiful... (fun fact, when I first moved to Vancouver, I thought everyone was calling it the Cedar Sky highway, and I called it that for a while... no one noticed.... which tells you a lot about the Canadian accent right there.)

Sam is trying to calm down Dean's bloodlust... it's not working, because Dean is still firmly in anger mode. Also, we find out through their conversation that basically Sam's in denial about Cas. "Is Cas really..." "You know he is." Awww... my heart. I AM slightly afraid that they'll pull a S2 and accidentally forget that Sam is also grieving, because Dean's emotions tend to take up more space in a room... BUT, this episode does do a pretty good job of including Sam's grief too, but that's jumping way ahead.

The Sheriff shows up at Pirate Pete's... and you know, while I acknowledge that having a hand on a gun really does drive up the tension of the scene and is good drama, part of me is screaming that the Sheriff is WAY too trigger happy when faced with a completely naked guy.

Then Jack glares at her, and we cut to commercial, and my friend's husband says "Oh no! Not Sheriff Barker!" and we all laugh.

We come back to weird people in the cabin looking at dead Cas... they are most likely angels. They talk about whether Cas deserved his end or not, and are divided. Then the camera lingers on the female angel and she does this weird smile, and like... what was with that, because it didn't mean anything, but was super weird.

Back to Jack! He's at the Sheriff's station, being asked questions. Sheriff Barker is actually pretty cool, telling her deputy off for calling Jack weird. It was cool to see her actually treat him like he's just a confused person rather than making a joke out of him. I mean, they kind of do that with her son, who is convinced Jack is high, but we've already established that her son is a bit of a doofus. Anyway, the Sheriff takes his thumbprint to see if she can find more information in the system. She asks him what he remembers, and Jack tells her that he remembers Dagon burning (though he doesn't use her name) and the universe screaming. So, that's interesting! He knows his mother is in heaven, but doesn't know where his father is.

Sam and Dean show up at the fast food joint. Dean thinks it's a dead end. Sam goes off to question the employees, while Dean says he's going to call Jody. There's a drunk girl inside giving the non-sheriff's kid a hard time about them not having any fries. Sam interrupts and says he's looking for a naked guy - and the drunk girl is like "you and me both, sister." Which is only slightly amusing on it's own, but pretty hilarious when you consider just how much she was taking the piss out of him.

Outside, Dean lowers the phone and gets out the car. Did he call Jody? Why does he look so thoughtful? (We find out later, that he probably did not call Jody.)

Sam calls the Sheriff to find out about Jack.

Then we cut to Dean outside coming back to the car with bloody knuckles. The drunk girl is standing WAY too close to the car, babbling at him. It's all VERY SUSPICIOUS. Also, like, if that was my car, I'd be like "Don't touch my car!" but then I'm really weird about people touching my stuff. Anyway, that drunk girl is DEFINITELY UP TO SOMETHING.

Sam comes out and is also like "what's with your hand?!" and Dean is all "what hand?" hahahaha... that'd've been funnier. He really just hides the hand and avoids the question.

Back at the Sheriff's station, the lights have gone wonky, and the Sheriff nervously follows the wonky lights down the hallway to find Jack and her son eating candy while sitting on the floor of the breakroom. Jack apparently has technopath powers and can make vending machines vend at will. Except for then he gets a MASSIVE HEADACHE.

My friends clued in before I did that it was angel radio.

He knocks the sheriff out and scares her son, and then stumbles out of the room and back down the hall, only to find Dean - and then Sam tazes him in the back. Not a good second day out of the womb for Jack.

The Sheriff then comes out and holds Sam and Dean at gun point... which she's been itching to do all day, so good for her?

We come back from commercial to find that Dean has decided to go with honesty. Really? Wow. Bold choice. Why not FBI aliases? How weird.

Sam, meanwhile, has been put in a cell with Jack... who wakes up. Sam quickly apologies for hurting him. Jack tells him that he was scared, which was why he attacked them. Jack then tells Sam to tell the others he's sorry. (Awww)... then we find out one of the reasons why Sam doesn't want to kill Jack right off the bat (though I'm not saying it's the only reason, because I don't think that's true.)... after Sam asks how Jack knows english (his mother), Sam asks if Jack remembers the door to the other world - he does - and whether he could open it again. I'm pretty sure Jack says he can, but I can't actually remember.

Anyway, Jack then asks about his father, that his father was supposed to keep him safe. And Sam is like "Lucifer will not keep you safe." and that's when Jack drops the bombshell that he considers Castiel his father, and that's who he's been looking for this whole time. Sam has to break the news that Castiel is dead. Which... I mean, yes, honesty is the best policy... but maybe break the news REALLY gently to the guy who slams people into walls when he's upset?

Then Drunk girl shows up outside the station just as Sheriff's son is leaving... and we know she's an angel. So, yup, SUSPICIONS CONFIRMED.

Dean has a brief meeting with Sam, telling him that they're going to get out of there - but then when he hears commotion in the front of the station, he just LEAVES SAM IN THE CELL. Like, Dude, at least open the door? Unless he said that the Sheriff was coming with the key or something, him just turning around and leaving doesn't make any tactical sense.

DrunkGirl Angel uses Sheriff's son as a hostage... wanting the Sheriff to kill Dean to save her son. Meanwhile, two angels come in through the back door to get Jack - using the angel radio to disable him with a huge headache, while they beat up Sam.

Out in the front room, Drunk Girl stabs Sheriff's son when the Sheriff dithers too much, and then gets to beating Dean, while the Sheriff tries to stop her son from bleeding out.

Sam's putting up a good fight in the cell... and by that I mean that when they make his face bleed, he uses the blood to draw a little tiny banishing sigil that's super cute... and gets the job done. Jack gets a splash of lightening-vein when Sam uses it, but gets to stay in the room thanks to his human half.

Drunkgirl runs in and sees that she's probably not going to win a fight between both Winchesters and Jack, so she just stabs Jack in the heart before Dean kills her. It surprisingly does nothing to Jack, besides give him a pouty confused face for a moment.

And then it's time to leave... and Sam and Dean and Jack go back to the cabin to give Castiel a proper Hunter's funeral. And man, like, yes, I was really pissed off at this show and probably would have stopped watching if I didn't have so many projects to do and if I weren't so connected to fandom... but it still has the ability to make me cry.

The first thing we see is Sam entering the bargaining stage - he's uncertain whether they should burn the body, because what if Cas comes back - maybe if they pray... and Dean is two steps ahead of him, because he entered that stage of grief back at the fast food place... though it wasn't so much bargaining as angrily demanding that Chuck return his loved ones to him, punching a sign until it broke, and then finally saying "please" before walking back to the car.... which explains the bloody knuckles.

And then we get Sam outlining how funerals work to Jack... in answer to Jack's question of what you should say at funerals, Sam says that you say thank you, and sorry, and that you hope they're in a better place now, without pain. And ugh, my heart, because yes, he's saying all those things to Castiel... but also, how many times has Sam done this, to break it down so simply, and yet so devastating.

Then Dean joins them and says the funeral's for Castiel, Kelly, Crowley, and Mom... and Sam's like "maybe Mom isn't dead-" but Dean insists that she is, that there's no reason for Lucifer not to have killed her immediately. So, we return to the optimist and the pessimist experiencing loss together.

Then we cut to the AU world, where Mary is trying to run from Lucifer - but Lucifer can fly, and easily catches her. But doesn't kill her, because he might need her.... so, it really sucks to be Mary.

And that's the episode!

Overall, I enjoyed it. It'll be interesting to see where they go with this. As you know, I'm pretty sick of Lucifer, so I'm probably not going to enjoy that storyline very much... but I'm interested in them exploring the nature vs. nurture debate with Jack, and I'm very interested in exploring the grief that comes with losing Cas, and also how they're eventually going to get him back, since we all know that Misha is still part of the show.

As usual, please let me know what you thought in comments!!

REMINDER: Quick Reactions are kept POSITIVE or at least balanced. Ultimately, I like to enjoy things - so if you DO want to complain about something, feel free, but remember than you then have to balance it out by stating something you liked about the show. (Rewatches are for complaining-fests, which we'll totally get to do soon with S12, once I remember to order the DVDs)

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Comments

My first reaction was that this was a pretty good premiere...for some reason my mind was comparing it to the season 11 premiere which set up things but didn't feel complete--in my rewatch I noted that ep 1,2, and 3 of that year need to be watched together to make a complete story--while this ep felt like it stood alone...does that make any sense?

Anyway, between Dean's hurt face and Sam's telling Jack what to say at a funeral, it made me cry too...Sam is the one who really got to me...in his paused reflection of what to say I could see him feel all the losses from all the other hunter funerals they've done...

And Jensen does 'angry because he's hurting so badly emotionally' Dean to perfection...

One of the things that made me like this ep was that they gave us a logical explanation for Jack's ability to speak English (I learned from my mother--and his halting start at speaking made sense in that context) and why he was a teenager already (his mother had worried about him being a defenseless baby.) I interpreted that as her subconscious giving him the idea of being bigger, not her actually telling him to grow up so fast because she put together a nursery for him before he was born. Also her thoughts planted the idea of Cas being his dad, not Lucifer. Good job, Kelly (and I mean that sincerely.) I loved that the writers actually took a moment to say the fans are going to wonder about those things and then give a reasonable answer for us! Because they don't always do that...

So you think drunk girl was already an angel when Sam first encountered her? Her behavior was certainly weird...but I don't think she was because of her whole telling the story of her roommate to Dean. If she was an angel, why would she be reliving her vessel's past memories so vividly? For all the angels we've seen in vessels, they seem to totally ignore their vessel's lives--Hannah didn't seem to connect to hers until her husband showed up, and Cas didn't reference Jimmy's memories as 'his' memories...unless she was an angel back when she was Becky's roommate, but again that seems like very 'human' behavior for an angel. So I think she said yes to an angel in her drunken state after Dean and Sam drove off.

Boy, the boys certainly got whaled on by the angels in this episode--Sam should have had broken ribs and internal bleeding from how the angel was kicking him! Nice that they showed Jack reacted to the banishing sigil...and whoa, an angel blade to the heart is nothing!

Dean's agreement to take him to the bunker so he can figure out how to kill him made perfect sense given Dean's mindset right now, and perfectly sets up Sam trying to change Dean's mind for the next several episodes. Again, that made the episode feel complete while setting up the next ep in a way the premiere of season 11 didn't feel finished.

Dean tying Cas in the shroud...Dean's heartbreaking expression...but a tiny bit of me was thinking how could Jensen act the hell out of it while tormenting Misha like Misha related at Torcon?

So I'm a pretty happy camper with the start of this season. Although the 'eye of Sauron' title card is a touch lame...recalling the early season ones with the swirling blood or the year with the angel wings flashing...

-in my rewatch I noted that ep 1,2, and 3 of that year need to be watched together to make a complete story--while this ep felt like it stood alone...does that make any sense?

Yes, that makes sense. Except for the dangling teaser of Mary, everything was all wrapped up and/or set in place in one episode.

Cas being his dad, not Lucifer. Good job, Kelly (and I mean that sincerely.) I loved that the writers actually took a moment to say the fans are going to wonder about those things and then give a reasonable answer for us! Because they don't always do that...

Agreed! Also, I was surprised at my psychological reaction to Jack stating that Cas was his father - because before that, I was like "okay, does this kid have a leaning one way or the other on the good/evil scale? Who has the right idea here about what should be done with him..." and then as soon as he's like "Castiel is my father." I was like "OMG DON'T LET ANYTHING HURT CASTIEL'S SON!" So, very well played, writers.

So you think drunk girl was already an angel when Sam first encountered her? Her behavior was certainly weird...but I don't think she was because of her whole telling the story of her roommate to Dean. If she was an angel, why would she be reliving her vessel's past memories so vividly?

The difference is that you believe that she's telling the truth there. To me, it's all a big act so that she can follow them/glean information without them catching on. And her throwback to the story (ie: calling Dean Becky once she reveals herself) is her way of rubbing it in that she was faking the whole time and he was too dumb to realize. That's how I see it anyway, ymmv.

Boy, the boys certainly got whaled on by the angels in this episode--Sam should have had broken ribs and internal bleeding from how the angel was kicking him!

Yeah, that was my one quibble with this episode - if they'd actually taken that beating, they'd have way more than a few bruises. Sam'd be missing teeth for sure and/or have a broken nose to go with his broken ribs.

So I'm a pretty happy camper with the start of this season. Although the 'eye of Sauron' title card is a touch lame...recalling the early season ones with the swirling blood or the year with the angel wings flashing...

I like the 'eye of Sauron' title card. I also can't tell if you like or dislike the swirling blood or crow-wings by your comment, but I like those too. I DO think they've sort of decided that they only want to use symmetrical centre-focused title-cards and that's limiting as you wouldn't get the blood or crow-wings with that mandate, but *shrug*, if they've made that decision, the eye is pretty dang cool, especially since it matches both Jack and the Princes of Hell (one of whom will be our second big bad for the year, I'm assuming.)

I'm wondering if there was a point to that though, because it seemed weirdly out of place to never be mentioned again. Maybe they were just trying to remind us that Mary was dead or something?

I do think it is a reminder of how Dean is taking this whole 'devastation.' Cas is dead, Mary must be dead too. She got killed once before, and when does anything work out for them? That kind of attitude as he also indicated when Sam suggested Jack wasn't evil.

I liked it! I want to watch it again for nuances, but I thought they did a really good job of setting up for the rest of the season.

I wish that drunk angel girl had used another name besides Becky. I kept thinking about Superfan Becky, and it threw me out a bit. I know that many people share names in the world, but I think it's okay for a TV show to use a little more variety. Even Betsy or Betty would have been better. Unless we were supposed to think of Becky..?

I'm still hoping that the Castiel that died was the other reality's version, and our Cas is going to eventually come back. It may be too optimistic, but we'll see I guess!

I was sure that Jack was going to heal the sheriff's son. I hope that humans getting stabbed with an angel blade makes the wound heal faster or something. He was kind of a dork, but he was cute.

I see where you're coming from with the Becky problem - to me, I'm so used to internet memes that I didn't make the connection - at least, not strongly. I was more thinking of "Becky" as just being the typical annoying-teenager name. (I apologize to any Beckys out there.) But yeah, even Becca would have been better... though, might just be saying that because that was MY annoying roommate experience.

I'm really looking forward to how they're going to bring Cas back this time... from the hints at Cons, I'm thinking it's something else... but I won't know until they actually show it whether I'm right or not!

Yeah, I wonder if Jack can heal other people at all. We know he can't resurrect them, or certainly he would have helped Cas and/or Kelly. And Dean was still all bruised up too. It could be that his powers aren't controllable at the moment and are only instinctual... or something he has to learn.

I'm sure the Sheriff's son will be alright. Usually if someone is still alive at the end of the episode, it means that they're going to live.

I'm a happy fangirl! I liked the balance of introducing Jack, and allowing Sam to bond with him, with seeing Dean's grief and anger, and how they brought these together at the end with the pyre. I loved the prettiness of the scenery and seeing the boys in the car, and talking, and I liked the direction they're taking Jack and looking forward to more, and basically, I just loved having Show back on my tv.

Dean's nightmare did seem a little misplaced, but maybe it was there to highlight what he says at the end; that he thinks she's dead too.

And yeah, Dean's nightmare was probably just to remind/show us that Dean thinks Mary is dead too and is all messed up about it. Whereas, Sam constantly drops hints that he's focusing on Jack because he's still in denial about the deaths, and focusing on Jack means he doesn't have to confront that.

Today I've been discussing Dean's prayer and his claim for Crowly (I wonder if this is a correct preposition) with some other fans. Why did he do it: because of some human feelings (personal sympathy) or his desire to just get back general order of things?

And suddenly there occured a question: who had made the alternative univese? Chuck? Or was it another creator? I just assumed Chuck made it, but my friend said there could be other universe makers. ))

I was just thinking of that question this morning - is there one God or multiple Gods, one for each universe. In my opinion, the fact that Balthazar knew how to travel between universes indicates that they are probably all under the same God... but yet, as we'll eventually see, all other beings are duplicated in the alternate universes, why not God? Also, if there were only one God, there would have been only one Amara? Wouldn't there have been? In which case, why did she just hang out in the one universe? If she was released in one universe, wouldn't she have been simultaneously released in all of them? Was the danger her destroying ALL universes or just that one? So, on that level, there had to have been only one God per universe, for God to care enough about Sam and Dean's to intervene multiple times, and also to reason why Amara only hung out in the one.

As for why Dean asked to have Crowley returned too - I think it's very much about wanting what you know. Dean knew his life, he had it figured out - Crowley was an enemy, but he was one that Dean knew well and could deal with. They had a really good understanding. There was probably some feelings involved too, in that Crowley DID die doing a good thing... BUT, I think mostly it's Dean having his whole world torn apart and wanting it to be put back together again.

Yes! Btw I remember that some seasons ago (somewhen near your meta about death in SPN-universe) I thought about it a little bit.. according to my headcanon there were multimple Gods and Death was a kind of observer/inspector, he looked after our God. ))